Robert Longo: “How Do You Feel About Getting Old?” | In conversation with Richard Price

In his new two-part exhibition, artist Robert Longo is going back to where it all began. On view at Pace and Thaddaeus Ropac concurrently is Searchers, a series of drawings including new works revisiting his Combine formats of the 1980s and the montaged image sequences that brought him notoriety in the late 70s, before a quick and ill-fated brush with Hollywood. “Johnny Mnemonic was a fucking horrible experience,” remarked the celebrated artist, talking about his ’95 sci-fi feature to his long-time friend and fellow filmmaker Richard Price. “I was lost for a while, so I went back to where I started from, which was ripping pictures out of newspapers.” Longo’s two shows include his hyperrealistic charcoal drawings, many of which draw from politically-minded imagery that communicate what the artist otherwise struggles to verbalize. On a call with Price, who appeared in Longo’s 1987 short Arena Brains, Longo confessed to feeling nervous for the first time as he prepared to debut his new works. “I always say terror keeps you slender,” Prince reassured him, and the two soon got to talking frankly about burnout, filmmaking blunders, and the pleasures and pitfalls of getting older.

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ROBERT LONGO: You have a new book coming out and I have a bunch of big shows happening. We’re evolving. I think what I’m doing now is the best work I’ve ever done and I think your book is incredible. How do you feel about getting old, brother?

RICHARD PRICE: I hate it. I’m not old, but I hate it anyhow. Listen, I got my Geritol, I have my truss. It’s on my mind. It’s like my body’s telling me something. Nothing serious, but I say “ouch” a lot more often.

LONGO: When we were younger, we thought we were indestructible. Now we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m running the other way. Every time I go to the gym, it’s like, “Fuck, I hate this, but I gotta do it.”

PRICE: Gotta do it.

LONGO: All of a sudden, I’m being dragged into a future that I don’t want to go into. But we as artists are leaving behind things that are how we want to be remembered, like the books and the artwork.

PRICE: Legacy is important. What we do lives beyond us. So when I die in 40 years at the ripe age of 150, maybe people won’t even be reading books or looking at art. I wanted to ask, if you went back to the early ’80s when people were going to an exhibit of Men in the Cities and all of a sudden, you got swooped into this year, how would you relate to 1981 Longo? Would you recognize your work?

LONGO: I still think everything is powered by the same rage and passion. I think I’m smarter, more worldly. Back then, I was incredibly aggressive about what I was trying to do, but I still am. Making art has so much to do with wanting to share how you see the world. And what’s interesting is how the work has expanded its focus, but there’s a consistency with Men in the Cities and what I do now because I try to make work that happens every time you look at it. I think that’s really important. I don’t know if you ever do this, but I’ve gone backwards to go forwards.

PRICE: Can you explain that a little?

LONGO: Yeah. After I made Johnny Mnemonic, I was one of the artists that was blamed for the ’80s. Johnny Mnemonic was a fucking horrible experience with dealing with Hollywood people, so I was lost for a while. I went back to where I started from, which was ripping pictures out of newspapers. I decided to make a drawing a day, and I made this series called Magellan, which was 366 drawings. That became the linchpin of everything I’ve done since then. Now, I have these two big museum shows, one in Vienna, one in Milwaukee, and the show in London is all this new work. It’s the first time I’ve been really nervous about doing an exhibition. I keep on thinking about all the things that can get fucked up and go wrong, so I’m excited about that.